The founder of Wikipedia accused David Cameron of “technological incompetence” on Tuesday, telling the British Prime Minister the idea of banning encryption was “just nonsense.”
Speaking on HuffPost Live in New York, Jimmy Wales responded to a question about the British government’s push to gain access to encrypted sites for reasons of security.
He called increased online security of “critical importance” in the face of “real threats from cyber crime.”
“That means end-to-end encryption everywhere. That’s what he [Cameron] should be campaigning for,” Wales said.
“The idea that you could ban encryption… it is just nonsense, it’s impossible, it’s math, you can’t ban math,” he added.
In regards to spying, Wales said that Wikipedia does not have a daily battle with GCHQ or the NSA. “Whatever they’re spying on, we don’t know. They don’t interact with us,” he said.
The UK government is currently drafting the Investigatory Powers Bill, better known as the 'Snoopers Charter', which was mentioned in the 2015 Queen’s Speech. Opponents of the Bill claim it could allow the government to ban instant messaging apps that refuse to remove end-to-end encryption.